The excellent exhibit ‘Art in the Streets’, which has just opened at the Geffen Contemporary MOCA in Los Angeles, is the first major one of its genre and follows the evolution of graffiti from the 70s to the current movement.
While some are saying it just glorifies vandalism, it is a very interesting collection, just the Banksy’s piece – a panel tagged with multi-colors and framed inside a Gothic arch to make it looks like a church stained glass window – is worth it.
But among the tons of colorful things to look at, there is Jamie Reid ‘s famous original work for the Sex Pistols. Not only did Janie write the lyric to "Anarchy" he invented the ransom-note-type collages, the British artist defined the image of punk rock when he did the covers of the Pistols’ albums and singles ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols’, ‘Anarchy in the UK’, ‘God Save The Queen’.
The museum was presenting a few interesting pieces from Reid, a ‘Fuck forever’ pin-up on a fluo orange background, some variations on the famous portrait of the Queen, and a ‘Sid Vicious action man’ wearing a swastika tee-shirt.
His work is so much associated with The Sex Pistols’ image, it made me think about the connection between visual art and music, a connection that sadly has been lost in this digital age.